Did you know Spider Bots are Blind?

July 22, 2011 By Chaz Key 1 Comment

Did you know Spider Bots are Blind?

That’s right “Spider Bots are Blind”, they can’t see your pretty website pretty pictures, fancy flash, or really cool videos. All they can do is read. Just like “Blind People” who read brail, they read a language. Spider Bots crawl your web site for content via text and text links just like your reading now. They can read the size of your text, the bold text and the color of your text. People for a while we’re trying to trick Spider Bots in believing the content was there by hiding text in different colors, but just like people they get smart and look for and compare the your text color to your page color. How is this possible, it’s in the code of your web site? So only deliver quality content that you would be willing to deliver to your customers and readers and the spider bots will love your site.

Spider Bots are “Trying to make sense of your Web Site”!

Everybody believes that Search engines are sophisticated machines and they are. Have you ever been to a web site and just didn’t have a clue what you were supposed to do or what it’s about? Or how about a site you just got flustered with the web site and simply hit that famous “Back Button” because you couldn’t find your way around the site. Spider Bots do the same thing, they are programmed to leave a web site that they can’t make sense of or navigate around. When performing Search Engine Optimization on your web site you need to make it easy for Spider Bots to find what they’re looking for, just like your customers.

Your Web Site should be organized and Spider Friendly, also known as Search Engine friendly.

Things you should consider when optimizing your web site:

URL Structure:

Like this:

example.com/real-estate/los-angeles.html

Not Like this:

example.com/$?OU812

Site Maps for Search Engines

Sites Maps for Google.com

Sites Maps for Yahoo.com

Site Maps for your Customers so they can navigate through your pages Title Tags

Each Title Tag should be different describing your page with your keywords and appealing to users to click on.

Each should be different with an appealing description of what the page offers using your keywords.
Meta Keyword Tags

A lot of SEO guys say it doesn’t matter, maybe there just too lazy and don’t want to add them to your site. Do not keywords stuff these, come up with about 5 to 10 Keywords that describe what your are about and make sure they are relevant.

A lot of SEO Companies are going to say Meta Tags are not important, that’s a myth or an outright lie in my opinion. If Meta Tags are not important, why is Google still tracking them in your “Google WebMaster Tools” account? Just something for you to think about.

Article: Did you know Spider Bots are Blind?
Article Source: Nine Eye Blog
Author: Chaz Key

Did you know Spider Bots are Blind?

How Local Geographic Web Searchers are searching the Internet.

July 21, 2011 By Chaz Key 1 Comment

How Local Geographic Web Searchers are searching the Internet.

Understanding how your local potential customers are using the internet is just the first step in having a successful local business online. In this article I wanted to drill down into the habits of web searchers that are looking for local businesses to do local business with. I have broken these search habits down into three stages to make the world wide web become more of a local web.

The Research Stage

Web Searchers use various ways to find what they’re looking for and do these in stages. In the first stage, I call this the “Research Stage”. Web surfers use general keywords to find general information. For example, a web searcher might be interested in finding “Real Estate”.

The keyword that a web searcher might use in during the research stage in search engines could be as simple as:

Real Estate

People who use research keywords for searching on the internet or for browsing are usually looking for general information only. Keywords for browsing typically will return very high search results. Hence in the image below, there are 1,740,000,000 competing for the first page of Google. Yes that is 1.7 Billion pages competing for the same keyword. Getting a top 10 ranking in the search engines for these general keywords is very difficult and nearly impossible in some cases. It is unlikely that a web surfer who uses such generic keywords will buy something local or take action. Mostly they’re just “looky loos” looking for a way to find what they’re really looking for.

The Savvy Stage

“The Savvy State” comes next. During the research stag, web searchers get overwhelmed by all the noise and none relevant information they have found on the internet and now begin to use keyword searches for comparing what they have learned.

The “Research Stage” now becomes the “Savvy Stage”. In “savvy stage”, web searchers narrow their selection because they are now more savvy and know what type of service or product they really want. For example, the web searcher might have found out during the “Research Stage”, that they are not looking for real estate in New York, but they are really looking for “Real Estate in Los Angeles”.

During the savvy stage web surfers now know more about what they are looking for and how to find what they really want. And with the new confidence comes new the keyword/phrase that are more specific to their Geographic area.

Real Estate Los Angeles

Los Angeles Real Estate

Web Searchers who use keywords/phrases for comparing are more likely and ready to buy or take action. “Comparing keywords/phrases” are probably the best keywords that you should be targeting search engine optimization during your online campaigns.

Most often these keywords will have a much lower search volume than broad-spectrum keyword/phrases but they will lead to more sales and action by your consumers. You will find it is so much easier to get top 10 rankings for these keyword/phrases. Take a look at the image below and see how the results in Google for the keyword phrase “Real Estate Los Angeles” The number of competing pages was reduced substantially from 1,740,000,000 to just 169,000,000 and this was a more targeted local search.

The Action Stage

During the last stage and final journey of a web search now comes the “The Action Stage” Web searchers now know what the service want and action they want to take action. They are just looking for the right website they feel they can trust, with the most credible to offer. For this reason, these web searchers are going to use very specific keywords. And since we’re talking about local customers, these keywords take on a complete local feel.

The Action Stage keywords may look something like this:

Homes for sale Los Angeles CA

Homes for Sale in Los Angeles

And once again we were able to dramatically reduce the competition and target true buyers in our local market. In this case we just went from competing against 1.7 Billion to 169 Million and finally 37 Million. And we are now more targeted to our local area for the local service or product we might have been offering.

People who use long tail keyword/phrases for buying locally are ready to buy or for action, are now ready to take action. During the “Action Stage” this is where you want to position your website. You must be on the front page of the search engines for the action keywords!

Have Fun,

Chaz Key

Article: How Local Geographic Web Searchers are searching the Internet.

Article Source: Nine Eye Interactive Media
Author: Chaz Key

How Local Geographic Web Searchers are searching the Internet.

Resources: Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com

Refernce Searches: Real Estate, Real Estate Los Angeles, Homes for sale Los Angeles CA

Filed Under: Local SEO Tagged With: Chaz Key, Local SEO

Keyword Tools

July 20, 2011 By Chaz Key 2 Comments

Compare Keyword Tools:

How can I find out who is searching for my Services or local business?

There are a number of keyword tools on the internet for finding out what Keyword Tools = Dollars people are searching for. Some of the keyword tools are free and some of the tools cost a onetime fee for the software and other tools have a monthly fee. Each tool has its own uniqueness for Search Engine Optimization and are very helpful.

Here we will cover some of the tools you can access on your own.

Google Keyword Tool:

With this tool you can search keywords and phrases and get a count on how many searches were preformed for the previous month. Google.com statically shows searches that are both locally in the United States and Globally displayed. The nice part about this is they also show you what the competition for PPC (pay per click) to help improve your SEM campaigns. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Keyword Discovery by Trillion

A free search term suggestion and keyword research tool to offer a more reliable alternative to the original Overture suggestion tool. This tool comes with free access as well as paid subscription. http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

Word Tracker Keyword Tools

Wordtracker’s leading-edge research keyword tool gives you the keywords you need to rise above your competitors in search engine rankings. Even better, they also show you how keyword research can help you discover untapped market niches, get inspiration for new products.

http://www.wordtracker.com/

Now also keep in mind each of these keyword tools have their own special purposes. You should really do your own research and find out which keyword tool works best for you. I have used each of these tools and still today by far my favorite is Google’s keyword tool. I like it the best because its easy to use, especially when I am on the go and need to do some simple keyword research.

Doing your research with a good keyword tool can save you a lot of headaches. Not just headaches but time. I have had many clients tell me what they want to rank for and then to find out nobody is looking for there keywords. It doesn’t help to rank for keywords that nobody is searching for.

Good luck on finding the right keyword tool.

Have Fun,

Chaz Key

Article: Keyword Tools
Article Source: Nine Eye Interactive Media
Author: Chaz Key

Filed Under: Google, Keyword Research Tagged With: Google, keyword research, Keyword Tools

Why I should hire an SEO Firm?

July 20, 2011 By Chaz Key Leave a Comment

Food for Thought:

Why I should hire an SEO Firm?

A Business owner of Real Estate Company wakes up in this advertised bed of which he got a great deal on the Internet by searching on Google.com “Good deals on Beds in Los Angeles”

To his advertised coffee maker, that makes the very best coffee in the world. He is so proud of his coffee maker that he bought on the Internet by searching on Google.com “Coffee Maker Reviews”.

The Business owner thinks: “How do I get more business from the Internet, I have made the best Web Site for my business and spent thousands”. He found the best Web Designer by searching on Google.com “Web Design Los Angeles” He only wanted the best….

The Business owner never considers Search Engine Optimization to optimize his site or hiring a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Firm to optimize his Web Site about selling real estate in his home town.

He decides it’s time to brush his teeth with his remarkable Electric tooth brush that he purchased on the internet by searching on Google.com “Electric Tooth Brush” and “Electric Tooth Brush Reviews”. He is so proud of his tooth brush; he only wants the very best.

The Business owner still thinks: “How do I get more business and more leads from the Internet, I have made the best web site for my business and I spent thousands”. Yet he still refuses to optimize his Company Web Site for his keywords.

He then gets into his advertised car that he found on the Internet by searching on Google.com “Cars with the Best MPG” and then narrows his search down to “Hybrid Car Reviews”. He is so proud of his car; he only wants the very best.

The Business owner boasts about how cleaver he is on finding the very best on the Internet. He knows how to get the best prices, only the top of the line products. Because, he knows he only wants the very best and yet he never considers Search Engine Optimization for optimizing his Company Web Site to be the very best.

The Business owner still thinks: “My competition is really booming on the internet and continues to think; “I have hired the very best Web Designers to build the very best Web Site.” Although he still refuses to optimize his web site or hire an SEO Firm to make him the very best!

At this point he has gotten so discouraged, he’s just not producing enough sales in his market to keep his business going. He is so good at searching on the internet; he knows how to find the very best. He decides, I am going to search for the very best Real Estate Company to Work for and hopes there hiring. So he searches on the Internet “Real Estate Company” and thousand of nothing comes up. Now he narrows down his search to “Valencia Real Estate” and says “I have found the very best Real Estate Company to Work for, they were on the first page of Google and if there on the Front page of Google, they must be the best”. Not only were they on the first page of Google, I only have to drive 5 minutes to work.

Needles to say the business owner who never optimized his web site, for search engines to find him. So he pulled the plug on his Web Site and reported to work for the very best company that was Search Engine Optimized for exactly what he was looking for.

He only wanted the very best….

Article: Why I should hire an SEO Firm?
Article Source: Nine Eye Blog
Author: Chaz Key

Why I should hire an SEO Firm?

SEO Los Angeles

Filed Under: Chaz Key Tagged With: SEO, SEO Company

A little about Page Rank

July 9, 2011 By Chaz Key 1 Comment

Text Links + Page Rank + Onsite Optimization = Higher Rankings

A little about Page Rank

I was inspired to write this post after reading “Google’s Matt Cutts on PR Updates“. I thought this was a really interesting piece on Page Rank by Rob Young at Search Engine Journal and deserved a deeper review.

Myself and my own projects have seen a huge boost in Page Rank. This all after the big scary “Panda Update“. What I have found since the Panda Update, is that the guys that have been doing things right, really didn’t see a decrease in traffic. Some of my own projects have seen a boost in organic traffic from Google and again a boost in page rank.

A little about Page Rank

Let’s get something straight here, “Page Rank” is not the number one ranking factor! To a guy like me Page Rank is just an indicator about how strong a site maybe. Just because a site has a huge Page Rank, doesn’t mean the site is going to rank well in the search engines. Page Rank is determined by a number of factors. The main factor is who is linking to you. If several sites with a high Page Rank link to your site, they pass on what is called “Page Rank Juice or PR Juice” in the SEO world. The second factor in getting a higher Page Rank is the pure number of credible sites that link to your own site.

Higher Rankings in the SERP’s with a high Page Rank

Like I said above, “Page Rank is not the number one ranking factor”, but it helps. So what is the number one ranking factor? It’s Text Links! It’s how credible sites link to your site using “Text Links”. Most of you know or may not know, but Google is technically blind. This means Google can only read your site, they can’t actually see your site. Google counts on us, you me and everybody on the web to define what sites are about through text links. So if a site with a high Page Rank uses a text link, Google trusts the high Page Rank site to identify what a page is about. And by trusting a site with a high Page Rank, that site passes Pr Juice. It’s just like a vote or an introduction.

How many times have you been to a seminar or a concert and somebody of importance introduces somebody you have never heard of? Once the introduction is made there is a transfer of trust. With this transfer of trust comes authority. This is exactly what happens when one site links to another. The “Introduction” is the text link and the “Transfer of Trust” is the passing of PR Juice.

: Text Links + Page Rank + Onsite Optimization = Higher Rankings

Text Links + Page Rank + Onsite Optimization

Text links from high Page Rank sites will ultimately help your ranking for your keywords. But, you need to respect your “Onsite Optimization“. If an incoming link says your

an “SEO Los Angeles“, the page that link is coming to needs to be optimized and should be optimized for those keywords, especially if you have control over those incoming links.

Google Counts on Us

Google is counting on us to define the web for the world. People will naturally link to other web pages that they find interesting. But they won’t always link the way you want them to. They will link to pages or articles with text links base on what they think the article or page is about. Keep your pages well defined, so people who choose to link to you, know how to link to you.

Have Fun,

Chaz Key

Article Source: Nine Eye

Article: A little about Page Rank

Author: Chaz Key

A little about Page Rank

Filed Under: Chaz Key, Chaz-Key Tagged With: Higher Rankings, Onsite Optimization, Page Rank, Text Links

Googles Matt Cutts on PR Updates

July 9, 2011 By Chaz Key 1 Comment

Google’s Matt Cutts on PR Updates

Page Rank, or PR, was once the most vital element of ranking in Google. Over time, PR has become just one of many ranking factors. Some have noticed, however, that PR has yet to see an update in the post-Panda world, which led to some questions about whether PR was being further diminished – or even

Google’s Matt Cutts on PR Updates

discontinued – as a result of link-buying abuse or other frowned upon behavior. One brave individual, Rajeesh, contacted Matt Cutts to get the answer to just that question.

Cutts take a roundabout way of getting there, but I’ll skip to the important part: Yes, Page Rank is still a thing, it will still be updated, and there’s no current indication that it’s being diminished as a ranking factor. To explain why people haven’t seen an update since Panda, however, Cutts took the time to explain how the PageRank numbers are generated and displayed.

As it turns out, Google actually keeps track of your new PR every time a portion of the web is re-crawled, which – thanks to Google caffeine – means constantly. The PR for all the sites on the web is “stored on a bank of machines,” and all that data can be exported manually and posted to the Google Toolbar. Additionally, the PR data in Google is “real floats or scalars” that go well beyond just the 0 to 10 rank that the toolbar provides.

The reason to keep the figures more narrow and the exports less frequent go back to avoiding webmaster obsession. Google decided they didn’t want webmasters checking back in multiple times per day to figure out exactly where their PR was, and Cutts specifically emphasizes that “there’s a lot of different stuff you can pay attention to beyond just that green indicator in the Google Toolbar.”

Article Source: Search Engine Journal

Article: Google’s Matt Cutts on PR Updates

Author: Rob D. Young

Google’s Matt Cutts on PR Updates

I thought this was a great piece by Rob D. Young. So I was inspired to go deeper into this. Make sure you read my thought on this article by reading my post A little about Page Rank. If you like the article, make sure you leave me a comment.

A little about Page Rank

I was inspired to write this post after reading “Google’s Matt Cutts on PR Updates“. I thought this was a really interesting piece on Page Rank by Rob Young at Search Engine Journal and deserved a deeper review.

Myself and my own projects have seen a huge boost in Page Rank. This all after the big scary “Panda Update“. What I have found since the Panda Update, is that the guys that have been doing things right, really didn’t see a decrease in traffic. Some of my own projects have seen a boost in organic traffic from Google and again a boost in page rank.

Filed Under: Google, Matt Cutts Tagged With: Google, Matt Cutts, Page Rank, PR Updates, Rob D. Young, Search Engine Journal